1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electro-optical device, a manufacturing method of the same, and an electronic apparatus equipped with the electro-optical device.
2. Description of Related Art
It has been one of the subjects in the field of electro-optical devices to enhance the durability of the devices against oxygen, water, and so forth. For example, in organic electroluminescence (hereinafter, abbreviated to organic EL) display devices, which are examples of the electro-optical devices, electro-optical materials (organic EL materials, hole-injection materials, electron-injection materials, or the like) for forming light-emitting layers (electro-optical layers) are deteriorated due to oxygen, water, or the like, and the conductivity of cathodes are reduced due to oxygen, water or the like, and thus, non-light-emitting regions called dark spots are formed. Therefore, problems occur in that the service life of the devices as a light-emitting device is decreased.
To solve the above-described problems, a method has been employed by which a lid made of glass or metal is fixed onto the substrate of a display device so that the substrate is sealed against oxygen, water, or the like. Recently, to cope with the increase in size, the light-weight, and the thickness reduction of display devices, a technique called thin-film sealing has been employed in which a thin film mad of an inorganic compound such as silicon nitrides, silicon oxides, ceramics, or the like, which is transparent and has high gas barrier properties, is formed on light-emitting elements by high-density plasma vapor phase deposition methods (e.g., ion-plating, ECR plasma sputtering, ECR plasma CVD, surface wave plasma CVD, ICP-CVD, or the like) (see Patent Document 1).
Moreover, in the case in which plural second plates are arranged on a first plate in a tile-form to cope with requirements for the realization of large screens, gaps are generated between the second plates, and also water permeates from a resin (adhesive) used for bonding of the second substrates. Thus, an electroconductive material and a light emitting layer tend to be deteriorated. Therefore, a technique has been proposed, by which the side faces of the bonded second plates are surrounded by sealing films (see Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-284041
Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-22293